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This is our exhibition entitled playing
cowboy. And this exhibition really examines

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the role that the performing in visual
arts played in crafting our ideas of what

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a cowboy is during this period from the
late nineteenth to the early twentieth

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centuries really. And this
exhibition focuses on the idea

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that Cowboys were primarily white these
self-reliant independent men with high

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moral standards and who carried six irons
on their hips when in reality up to

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a third of cowboys who were working at the
time period were either African-American

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or Mexican some Native
Americans but it was

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a very small proportion and then this
exhibition really looks at how Buffalo Bill

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helped craft this identity as well as
famous artist of the time like Frederick

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Rimington and Charles Marion Russell. William
Buffalo Bill Cody was the progenitor

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of what we come to know as the Wild West
show that eventually influenced things

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like the Western films on ARAA and
he was this character who was

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a great showman he developed

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a show that traveled the cut throughout
the country and even the world promoting

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this idea of what was the American West.

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Really. And he was such

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a great showman he realized that film
was the next big thing in the public

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entertainment and so he was an early
adapter of film technology he even allowed

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Thomas Edison studios of film
Home reenacting his glory days as

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a scout for the U.S.

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Army. When my favorite
things in the exhibition is

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a small group of posters that are related
to the outlaw Jesse James and these

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posters are basically promoting

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a. Theatrical production that was written
at shortly after his death the story sort

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of lionized his behavior
they treated him as

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a Robin Hood type figure within the first
season the title changed over to James H.

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WALLACE The bandit King that was the name
of the lead actor and the producer of the

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show because we believe that northern
audiences didn't like the idea of turning

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this villain who was a
Confederate sympathizer and

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a confederate guerilla warrior into

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a hero character and what's really
extraordinary is that over museum has the

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largest collection of posters
related to the specific production.

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In addition to cowboys the exhibition focuses
on portrayals of Native Americans in

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the latter part of the one nine hundred and
early part of the twentieth centuries.

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These are by no means sympathetic portrayals
of Native Americans they're mostly

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stereotypical and based on racist ideas
of the times one of the prime examples of

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a commercialized portrayal
of a Native American is

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a cigar store figure we're all familiar
with these the cigar store figure is kind

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of woven into the D.N.A.

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Of Schiller museum Ark founder Electra
having Myra Webb the first piece of folk art

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that she purchased was a cigar store
figure of a maiden that she bought from

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a gas station in Connecticut and when she
brought it home to show her mother her

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mother who was

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a collector of famous impressionist
paintings asked her what have you done and

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Electra replied that she had bought art.

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One of the jewels of the exhibition are

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a trio of transparent paintings that were
done an eight hundred fifty of Native

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American. Chieftains and figures and these
are important because they were an early

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form of public entertainment
they were painted on

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a trans Lucent semi translucent fabric and
then oiled and then they were stretched

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over

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a frame and back lit by candles so they
were displayed in these dark tents where

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they would have an orator come in and give
the stories in the histories of these

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important Native American figures these
are the only ones known to survive their

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extraordinary We have seven in total three
of the of the best are on display today

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they include people like Paul Houghton who
is the father of Pocahontas Tecumseh and

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O.C.

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Oh all very important figures in the history
of Native American cultures. It was

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cultural appropriation it was the perfect
form of edutainment people would come

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from far and wide to see these displays
they would take what little disposable cash

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they had and they would you know buy tickets
and then they were given this view of

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history from the white perspective where
they were saying you know will harden was

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the father of Pocahontas and then
they would go into Pocahontas

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a story and it was all told
from the white perspective.

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This exhibition approaches these very
difficult topics of race head on we wanted to

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include objects from our collection that
were historical representations and

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present them in the story as part of this
history but we also want people to know

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that it's important for cultural institutions
today to address subjects such as

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racism and the mistreatment of people and
we do that through these artifacts that

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are sometimes difficult
to look at we're not

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a political institution and
really when we approach

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a exhibition like this we do it from the
standpoint of. Reporting history. All the

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tools and information for the
audience to. Conclusions that people.

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Will. Learn something about. Makes

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them reflect upon their own lives today.